When a computer system crashes, an operating system executed on the computer system may dump contents of main memory at the time of the crash onto a file. This dump is referred to as a core dump, and the information in the core dump is generally used to debug or analyze errors in computer programs or computer systems.
However, in conventional computer systems, only the operating system generates a core dump. If the operating system also malfunctions in the computer system crash, then a core dump cannot be generated. Instead, many conventional computer systems simply reset themselves in a computer system crash. Without any information being recorded at the time of the crash, it would be difficult to diagnose or analyze the errors that caused the crash.